Npol pot khmer rouge books

I knew pol pot 28 jan 08 part 1 al jazeera english. This is a great book that starts with the us bombing of cambodia during the vietnam war and carries the story to the khmer rouge take over. This is what makes henri locards pol pots little red book such a valuable contribution to the study of cambodian history, and to the study of genocide in general. Instead, the khmer rouge maintained a cloak of secrecy around its leaders. Together with the khmer rouge cambodias communist party, he worked to shift cambodia to a classless agrarian society. Race, power, and genocide in cambodia under the khmer rouge, 197579. Written in a scholarly format, the pol pot regime would prove to be an excellent source for those wishing to research this period in cambodian history. Their victory was greatly helped by the american attack on cambodia, which was carried out as an extension of the vietnam war. The khmer rouge, in other words, took ideology with the utmost seriousness. Locard also notes that a slogan repeated to khmer rouge cadres supports the view that starvation in cambodia was not merely an unforeseen accident, but was instead used as a means of control. Race, power, and genocide in cambodia under the khmer rouge, 197579 9780300144345.

A world history of genocide and extermination from sparta to darfur and the pol pot regime. Race, power, and genocide in cambodia under the khmer rouge, 197579, third edition by ben kiernan aug 19, 2008 3. Good books and films about the cambodian genocide orange. Pueblo west residents, pol pot survivors, detail regime in. Sar was variously referred to as pol pot, brother number one or one with the gun. It may be impossible to explain why pol pot and the khmer rouge government caused the deaths of more than one million possibly two million cambodians during their 4 year rule 19751979 the author, philip short, made an effort to do so in this book. Chwieroth, history in this authoritative work, ben kiernan. What was the nature of the regime that turned cambodia into grisly killing fields and murdered or starved to death 1.

David chandler, one of the foremost western scholars on cambodian historyand author of the first study of s21, the khmer rouge interrogation centrerecommends the best books on cambodia. Pol pot s little red book clarifies the motivations of the khmer rouge and the repressive revolution that resulted in the deaths of two million people during its fortyfive month reign. He was a leading member of cambodias khmer rouge movement from 1963 until 1997 and served as the general secretary of the communist party of kampuchea from 1963 to 1981. David chandler is emeritus professor of history at monash university in australia, and one of the leading western scholars on cambodian history. On the trail of pol pots chief executioner prospect.

Ieng sary was the khmer rouge s foreign minister thenand a defendant at the eccc until he died last year. Locard provides a valuable, if flawed, service here for students of the khmer rouge, with his presentation of the slogans of angkar. Pol pot and khmer rouge had long been supported by the communist party of china cpc and mao zedong himself. The following letter was published in the montclarion weekly student newspaper of montclair state university of april 23. Many scholars of cambodia and intellectuals, opposed to the u. Many do not take the order seriously and decide not to leave their homes.

Polarization pol pot s little red book in this book, the paranoia that pol pot and and the khmer rouge experienced was highly regarded. The book also describes the origins of the khmer rouge and the early edu. The 10 best books about the khmer rouge in cambodia culture trip. My first book about cambodia, pol pots smile, deals with the khmer rouges devastating revolution and follows in the tracks of a swedish. In the hands of pol pot, communist dogma became a lethal weapon, supplying justification for monstrous crimes committed in the name of economic development, independence, and national sovereignty. Locard examines an extensive collection of commonly repeated sayings from the pol pot time, and the picture they paint is chilling. Pol pot, one of the worlds most infamous dictators, rose to power in the 1960s in the southeast asian country of cambodia. The khmer rouge s leader, saloth sar, did not allow a personality cult. The khmer rouge was a brutal regime that ruled cambodia, under the leadership of marxist dictator pol pot, from 1975 to 1979.

An idealistic and reclusive figure, pol pot sought to instill in his people values of moral purity and selfabnegation. The 10 best books about the khmer rouge in cambodia. The khmer rouge went underground, and in short order the vietnamese tried some of the movements leaders in absentia, holding what they called the trial of the genocide crime of the pol pot ieng sary clique. He instituted a radical form of agrarianism, forcing everyone from the cities to work on collective farms in the country. The brutal regime, in power from 19751979, claimed the lives of up to two million people. Between april, 1975 and january, 1979, pol pot and the khmer rouge were responsible for the deaths of 1. Short is excellent at coining pithy summations of political motives that ring humanly true. What is the best book on the history of the khmer rouge. As the head of the khmer rouge, he oversaw an unprecedented and extremely brutal attempt to remove cambodia from the modern world and establish an agrarian utopia.

In this riveting book, the first definitive account of the khmer rouge revolution, a world renowned authority on cambodia shows how an ideological preoccupation with racist and totalitarian. My new book, song for an approaching storm, is set in the 50s, two decades before the catastrophe. Al jazeera speaks to those who knew the leader of the genocidal khmer rouge. After they seized power in cambodia in april 1975, saloth pol pot sar and the khmer rouge were responsible for the death of 1. Phnom penhs population held approximately one million residents and refugees.

Many slogans and propaganda was spread to strike fear and prove how determined they were to achieve their goal. Pol pot and the khmer rouge were in pursuit of transforming the cambodian society to a utopian one and bringing the country to year zero as pol pot put it. This is not a scholarly book by any means, and his contextualization of democratic kampuchea is extremely shallow. Pol pot ruled cambodia as its prime minister from 1976 to 1979 and was instrumental in the deaths of millions of cambodians. Race, power, and genocide in cambodia under the khmer rouge, 197579, by ben kiernan offering an account of the cambodian revolution and genocide, this book includes a preface that takes the story up to 2008 and the unsponsored khmer rouge tribunal. In an interview, pol pot declares his conscience is clear. In the mid1900s, cambodia had been chafing for centuries under thai, vietnamese, and french control. Throughout 1975, the communist partys governance of cambodia was kept secret. Under its reign, an estimated two million people died. By 1975 their numbers were enough to defeat the government forces. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

On april 17, 1975, they captured the country after a devastating five year war, punctuated by a u. The history of a nightmare new ed by philip short isbn. Having read philip shorts excellent biography of pol pot immediately prior to this book. He was the principal link between khmer rouge strategy and the mechanics of mass murder. According to the black book of communism, pol pots beijingbacked communist party of kampuchea, or khmer rouge, was responsible for. On 17 april, it is 25 years since pol pot s khmer rouge entered phnom penh. The lost world of the khmer rouge with david adams pol.

Pariseducated, and a khmer communist leader from 1960, he led khmer rouge guerrillas against the government of lon nol after 1970. A gripping and definitive portrait of the man who headed one of the most enigmatic and terrifying regimes of modern times in the three and a half years of pol pot s rule, more than a million cambodians, a fifth of the countrys population, were executed or died from hunger. Pol pot promised an agrarian utopia but delivered a regime of massextermination, starvation and slaughter. Cambodian genocide denial was the belief expressed by many western academics that claims of atrocities by the khmer rouge government 19751979 in cambodia were much exaggerated. As head of the special branch, duch was personally responsible for the extermination of 20,000 men, women and children. List of books and articles about pol pot online research. Days after entering the city as heros the khmer rouge order everyone out of the city. Philip short observed pol pot at close quarters during the one and only of. Pol pot sought to revert cambodia to an agrarian society. Between 1975 and 1979, the pol potled khmer rouge regime ruled cambodia with deadly force. Race, power and genocide in cambodia under the khmer rouge, 19751979, published by yale university press. The best books on cambodia five books expert recommendations.

Pol pot was born saloth sar on may 19, 1925, in kompong thom province, cambodia. The 10 best books about the khmer rouge in cambodia first they killed my father by luong ung. Pol pot was the cambodian revolutionary who led the khmer rouge communist insurgency that eventually took power in 1975. Pol pot, brutal dictator who forced cambodians to killing.

Here, the former khmer rouge head of state, pol s brotherinlaw and scores of lesser figures speak for the first time at length about their beliefs and motives. Race, power, and genocide in cambodia under the khmer. To mark the anniversary, the evil of pol pot will be recalled, almost as a ritual act for voyeurs of the politically dark and inexplicable. Pol pot s attempts to create a cambodian master race through social engineering ultimately led to the deaths of more than 2 million people in the southeast asian country. Pol pot died nearly 23 years to the day that his triumphant khmer rouge army marched into phnom penh to begin the most radical communist revolution in history. The history of a nightmare new ed by short, philip isbn.

In only four years, from 1975 to 1979, the khmer rouge forces killed two million people while the devastation pol pot wreaked on. Pol pot, 192598, cambodian political leader, originally named saloth sar. Pol pot and the khmer rouge sent people to detention centers and introduced harsh and inhumane policies that brought much suffering to the. May 19, 1925april 15, 1998 was a cambodian dictator. This repression, as locard highlights, should rightly be called politicide or autogenocide rather than genocide.